‘Dine & Donate’ to help needy neighbors kicks off in October

Beginning in mid-October, local residents will have a new way to support Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties (ADFAC).

Special to The Oak Ridger

Beginning in mid-October, local residents will have a new way to support Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties (ADFAC).

On Monday, Oct. 14, ADFAC will launch “Dine & Donate,” a fundraiser in which local restaurants donate a portion of their sales to support ADFAC’s work in the community. Dine & Donate replaces and builds on the success of ADFAC’s Feed the Need event, which had a similar concept, but was limited to just one week in October. Dine & Donate will be a year-long event, with five restaurants participating on the second Monday of each month.

“We are thrilled with this new format,” said ADFAC Board Member Cande Seay, who chairs the Dine & Donate Committee. “By having the event occur once per month, there will be more opportunities for the community to dine out in support of ADFAC.

Another benefit of the new format is that by limiting the number of restaurants to five each month, we will be able to provide better focus on each of our participating restaurants.”

Two restaurants, Razzleberry’s Ice Cream, Café & Market in Oak Ridge and Hoskins in Clinton, agreed to participate in all 12 months of the first year of Dine & Donate.

Several business and media sponsors have also stepped up to support the first year of Dine & Donate, including The Oak Ridger, SAIC, UT-Battelle, ORNL Federal Credit Union, Assurance Center of Oak Ridge, Enrichment Federal Credit Union, Holman’s, J & M’s Butcher Shop, Mortgage Investors Group and Proforma.

“ADFAC is so grateful to each and every restaurant and sponsor that has agreed to participate in this important fundraiser,” Seay said. “The money raised through Dine & Donate will be utilized by ADFAC to help provide essential services to our less fortunate neighbors throughout Anderson County. We hope the community will come out in droves on the second Monday of every month to support ADFAC and our local restaurants!”

A calendar of participating restaurants can be found at www.adfac.org/dineanddonate.html as well as www.facebook.com/adfac. Although the schedule of restaurants for the first year of Dine & Donate is nearly full, there is still time for interested restaurants to grab the last few openings.

For more information, contact Cande Seay at (865) 216-1538 or Jamie Olson at adfacjamie@bellsouth.net.